A string of bad weather and increased demand and international markets have led to surges in the price of coffee over the past year, and more price hikes may be on the way.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s latest statistics, the average cost of one pound of ground coffee in April in the United States, was $5.10, up nearly $1.50-per-pound from the year before.

According to a recent Los Angeles Times report, J.M. Smucker, the distributor of Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts brands to stores, and Starbucks have each announced price hikes for their beans — with Starbucks increasing the cost of a pound of coffee sold at its stores by 17 percent. Over the last 12 months, the price of green, unroasted coffee on the big commodities exchanges has gone up nearly 92 percent, according to the report.

“These are big increases — and I don’t think we’re done with it,” coffee industry expert and editor of supermarketguru.com Phil Lempert told the paper. “We’re going to see higher prices on coffee for a very, very long time.”

Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. Feedback and story ideas are welcome at publisher@dailycoffeenews.com.